What is my work about?
My work is about intimacy and closeness. I see my paintings as a conduit between the viewer and me, through which my experiences become theirs. In my process, I search for affinities between textures, marks or color relationships and moments in my life, from banal to sexual. I focus on love and desire in my work because they are both fundamental human experiences, but also what marks me as different. By foregrounding the tactility of paint and slowing down the read of the image, I try to create a connection with a viewer that speaks to the sensations that we share rather than the social categories that constrict us. Through this sense of touch and materiality that is inherent to painting I aim to create a space where queerness is no longer marginalized.
Artist Statement
My paintings depict experienced or imagined moments of love and desire. I focus on these subjects because they are both fundamental human experiences but also what marks me as different. When I’m confronted with views about queerness, whether in a conversation, on the street, publicly expressed in the media, or embedded in institutional policy, I often feel that they do not reflect my own experience of sexuality. I want my paintings to bridge this gap between how I see myself and how others see me.
Through the form and materiality of my paintings I try to make my pleasures, anxieties, and desires palpable to the viewer. In my process, I search for affinities between textures or color relationships and experiences I’ve had, whether banal, intimate, or sexual. I think of the images I use as a sign pointing in the direction of the psychological world of the paintings, and the color and texture as carrying most of their emotional weight. For example, in “Red Hands” the harsh contrast and scab-like surface related in my mind to the violent undercurrent of the image.
In this painting, as in “Fucking” or “Three Lovers,” the figure in the foreground is painted as ‘negative space’. This inversion of the figure/ground relationship slows down the read of the paintings, carving out time for the viewer to focus on the paintings’ form as the image emerges. The color and light in the paintings also suggests a specific sense of time and place. For example in “Embrace,” painted with close tones of blue and flickering orange, the space appears to be dimly lit by a nearby window, underlining the private nature of the moment.
This sense of intimacy and closeness I continuously strive for in my work took on a slightly different form in my most recent paintings like “Drifting Off” and “Sleeping” where I’ve used drawings made from observation as my source material instead of photographs. Working from observation allows for a more immediate relationship to my subject and adds another layer of expressiveness to my paintings. Additionally, it unexpectedly opened up possibilities for new subject matters that don’t involve figures, like in the painting “Bed” for example, but which still feel connected to my content. This is new territory for me and I’m excited to explore the evolving role of drawing and subject matter in my work.
CV
Education
2012 MFA, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2010 BFA, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, summa cum laude
2010 Certificate, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), Philadelphia, PA
2009 Yale Summer school of Music and Art, Norfolk, CT
Selected Honors and Scholarships
2011 The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant
The Schoelkopf Travel Prize, Yale University
2010 The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art Museum purchase prize, PAFA
2009 Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship, Yale Summer School of Music and Art
Selected Group Exhibitions
2014
Haunted, Louis B. James, New York, NY
Nighttime in New York, Galerie Thomas Fuchs, Stuttgart, Germany
Do the Yale Thing, N’Namdi Center For Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI
2013
Corpus Americus, Driscoll Babcock, New York, NY
Domestic Experiences / Foreign Interiors, Sensei Exchange, New York, NY
Diff’rent Strokes, Louis B. James, New York, NY
Andrew Robinson/ Doron Langberg/ Kyle Coniglio, Anna Kustera Gallery,New York, NY
Deep Cuts, Anna Kustera Gallery, New York, NY
2012
The Dorian Project, Second Guest Projects & Ana Cristea Gallery, New York, NY
Red Herring, FJORD Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Lost and Found, Museum of New Art Detroit, MI
Eyes Off the Flag, Motus Fort Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2011
It’s Hot Inside, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY
Romantic Agony, Horton Gallery, New York, NY
Selected Bibliography
2014
Hasset, Christopher, Corpus Americus at Driscoll Babcock, NY Arts Magazine, January 2nd
2013
Staff, Andrew Cornell Robinson, Doron Langberg, Kyle Coniglio, Artcritical, May 1st
Staff, Three NYC Group Shows To See This February, NY Arts Magazine, February 5th
Doyle, Paul. Q Magazine at Yale, Spring Issue 2013
2012
Drake, Colin, Found: Compelling New Art Center in Detroit, Huffpost Detroit, April 30th
Cohen, David, A Titan or a Toy: Picturing Dorian Gray, Exhibition Catalog, p. 7
2011
Joshua Lubin-Levy & Carlos Motta, Petite Mort- Recollection of a Queer Public, p. 64-65
MFA issue, New American Paintings, Issue 93. p. 170-173, Editor’s Selections
2010
Donohoe, Victoria, Youthful Feel, Philadelphia Inquirer, December 24th
Weber, Laura, 5 under 40, Philadelphia City Paper, December 6th
Nichols, Larry, Gallery pushing definitions of queer art, Philadelphia Gay News, July 9, p. 9
Public Collections
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum
Teaching Experience
2013-Present Montclair State University, Adjunct Professor in the Painting Dept.
2012-Present 92nd Street Y, Painting and drawing instructor in the School of Art